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Crusader Host
The Crusader Host was an elite Legiones Astartes Honour Guard stationed on Terra during the Great Crusade and early years of the Horus Heresy during the 30th Millennium and early 31st Millennium. It is presumed once the entirety of the Crusader Host was incarcerated, that it was formerly disbanded by order of the Terran Council. Following the formal disbandment of the Crusader Host, the fate of the majority of its members remains unknown. History At the conclusion of the Unification Wars, the Legiones Astartes stood upon the precipice of launching the Great Crusade, to depart the Sol System in a great many cases never to return. Before leaving at the head of the first great Expeditionary fleets, each of the Legions mustered a party of Legionaries who would remain on Terra and stand as their representatives before the Terran Council in all matters in which the Legions held a stake. In addition, they would serve as an honour guard to watch over Terra and all that the Unification Wars had won Mankind. Perhaps most importantly, they would record the names of those Legionaries who would lay down their lives conquering the great darkness beyond the light of Sol, so that no sacrifice would ever be forgotten. In accepting this honour, the Legionaries of the Crusader Host would be making an equally great sacrifice, for they would partake in none of the glory their brothers would win and all their victories would be won by proxy. Crusader Host Composition The Crusader Host was based in the Preceptory within the Imperial Palace. Within its hallowed halls they kept tally of their brothers' glorious victories, mourned the dead and acted as their Primarchs' proxies in the Solar System. This unit was composed of representatives from all 18 Legiones Astartes and normally numbered at least 30 members. Although service in the Crusader Host was required on a rotational basis that all of the Legions were required to adhere to, the Host was not required to have a member from each of the Space Marine Legions in its complement. The rotation of Astartes did not happen regularly, as some members of the Crusader Host had been away from their Legions for over 100 standard Terran years. The Horus Heresy During the early 31st Millennium, the Emperor's favoured son, the Warmaster Horus, fell to the seductive whispers of Chaos and instigated a galaxy-spanning civil war against the Imperium. Horus pitted Primarch against Primarch and Legion against Legion. When the Warmaster's betrayal was revealed at Istvaan III, the members of the Crusader Host were as one, to be incarcerated by order of the Praetorian of Terra, the Primarch Rogal Dorn in the prison Khangba Marwu, better known as "The Vault." If such as Horus could turn, then who among the Host could be trusted? Under the orders of High Custodian Constantin Valdor, the Captain-General of the Legio Custodes, a "hunt team" of Custodes warriors was assembled to bring all the members of the Crusader Host to justice, by force if necessary. At length, Dorn was satisfied that those of the Host drawn from his own Legion were sound in their loyalties and he ordered them freed. Of the remainder, each is a tale in its own right. Some escaped, their fates unknown. A small number were freed on condition of their performing some great and vital task, such as service in the ranks of the Knights-Errant. The ultimate fate of many of the Crusader Host is bound up in the events of the climax of the Horus Heresy, when total war came at last to Terra. Known Crusader Host Members This is a list of all known members of the Crusader Host at the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, which includes their eventual fates when known: Sources *''The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution'' by Alan Bligh, pp. 17, 88 *''The Horus Heresy Visons of Heresy: Book One'' (Artbook), pg. 23 *''The Outcast Dead'' (Novel) by Graham McNeill *''The Master of Mankind'' (Novel) by Aaron Demski-Bowden *''The Purge'' (Novel) by Anthony Reynolds *''Vengeful Spirit'' (Novel) by Graham McNeill *''Riven'' (Novella) by John French es:Guardia de Honor (Marines Espaciales) Category:C Category:History Category:Imperial History Category:Imperium Category:Space Marines